The truth about coaching turnover in the rugby union
Job security as a professional rugby head coach in Europe isn’t quite as fragile as an English Premier League soccer manager.
A record 15 top league soccer bosses (75 percent) fell by the wayside last term, and Jose Mourinho’s axing by Manchester United on Tuesday means the figure for this season now stands at three heading towards Christmas.
The rugby scene isn’t as volatile, but it isn’t short of managerial upheaval either. A Rugby Pass survey of the 66 European clubs operating in the PRO14, Top 14, Premiership, Championship and Pro D2 leagues has found that 20 clubs changed their main man during 2018.
This 30.3 percent turnover lends credence to last week’s brusque claim by new Northampton boss Chris Boyd that the European scene isn’t for the faint-hearted.
He has a point. Back in his native New Zealand, you recently had the curious situation of axed Blues boss Tana Umaga, rather than being shown the Eden Park door, given an assistant’s role to soften the blow after three years of failure as head of the organisation.
‘It [European rugby] is a ruthless place,’ said Boyd in a recent interview. ‘If you get it right it’s great, and if you don’t then you go and that’s how it is.
‘I 100 percent agree with it – that’s the nature of the beast. There’s a demand here for performance… if you want security you’d never be a rugby coach.’
Boyd’s comments were perhaps realisation of his own difficult teething situation following his summer arrival from the Super Rugby-winning Hurricanes franchise.
Northampton don’t have a track record as a sacking club. Jim Mallinder held the Franklin’s Gardens reins for 10 years before he was cut last December.
However, the Saints head back into Premiership action this Friday at Worcester occupying 10th spot after just three wins in nine outings. That leaves them just two points clear of bottom side Newcastle and very much in the thick of a relegation battle where just four points separate seven clubs.
Boyd might be feeling nervous, but rugby doesn’t quite yet mirror the trigger-happy English soccer scene. Rob Baxter is in his 10th season as Exeter boss, Mark McCall his ninth at Saracens, Dai Young his eighth at Wasps while Steve Diamond and Dean Richards are each into their seventh season in charge respectively at Sale and Newcastle.
If rugby was soccer, interim Leicester boss Geordan Murphy would have been the recipient of very different news on Tuesday 105 days after he agreed to fill-in in September for the ousted Matt O’Connor.
They don’t hang about chopping and changing in the round ball game. Nik Daws had just 91 days in charge at Scunthorpe, Michael Collins 77 at Bradford City and Harry Kewell just 74 before the plug was pulled at Notts County.
But rather than Murphy suffering a similar fate for his underachievement, Tigers instead opted to permanently hand him the reins even though the Welford Road club is currently under the storm cloud of a deflating eight-match losing run, something not experienced since the dim and distant amateur era days of 1975.
This vote of confidence in their rookie head coach is a better reflection on an organisation that unceremoniously axed O’Connor, who arrived in March 2017, just a single game into this season.
One September match was also all James Buckland had as Ealing head coach. However, because he was working under director of rugby Ben Ward, the rate of expendability in the Championship for 2018 is similar to the Premiership’s 25 percent turnover.
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London Irish, Nottingham and Yorkshire have rung changes at the top, but with contrasting fortunes.
While Declan Kidney, Nick Kennedy’s successor, has Irish on track for a swift Premiership return, Yorkshire newcomer Chris Stirling, who worked with Boyd at the Hurricanes, will be feeling edgy that things are not working out in Leeds.
His team are bottom of the division after just one win in nine, they suffered a 67-point drubbing at Irish while average attendances of just 1,500 further highlights how weak the club’s ambitions are of a return to the Premiership. A drop to National League is more likely without sharp improvement.
Just six changes across England’s 24 clubs sounds restrained compared to some goings-on elsewhere. Three of the four Welsh regions changed their men at the helm in 2018.
Bernard Jackman’s exit from Dragons last week was the latest alteration following Ospreys’ January sacking of Steve Tandy and the decision of Cardiff’s Danny Wilson to take up an assistant’s role at Wasps.
It will become a clean sweep next May when Wales-coach-in-waiting Wayne Pivac bids adieu to Scarlets.
Celtic neighbours Ireland are regularly lauded for their top-down, IRFU-run model, but even their union in Dublin don’t take bad provincial results lightly.
Les Kiss and Kieran Keane found this out to their cost at Ulster and Connacht respectively, Keane ousted from Galway just a year into his proposed three-year relationship. Meanwhile, Munster has too long been a merry-go-round, the club having five different coaches in charge since they last lifted a trophy in 2011.
This demand for success is currently at its most cut-throat in the second tier French league as five of the 16 PRO D2 clubs switched main men in 2018.
Colomiers were the latest to blink, a dressing room player vote of no confidence last week resulting in the ousting of Olivier Baragnon after just a season and a half at the helm.
That was the same 18-month length of tenure afforded to Jackman in Newport. Ten defeats in 14 matches and the prospect of relegation to the Fédérale cost Baragnon.
The curious thing about this evolving PRO D2 landscape is how four of the five clubs who made changes – Bayonne along with European Cup final trio Biarritz, Brive and Colomiers – feel capable of being Top 14 teams. It seems ambitions to get back up to the first tier are influencing snap decisions.
This upheaval at these lower division clubs with a European pedigree is in stark contrast to Vannes’ build-it-slowly approach. Jean-Noel Spitzer is enjoying his 14th straight season in charge to make him and Bedford’s Mike Rayer the longest serving bosses anywhere on the European circuit.
Patient faith in the men in charge is a common denominator at clubs enjoying stability and regularly competing for trophies. Racing 92 are a good example, joint bosses Lauren Labit and Laurent Travers midway through their sixth season in charge in Paris.
But Leinster and Toulouse best illustrate the importance of clubs standing by their chosen ones. Leo Cullen was exposed by inexperience during his first season at the helm in Dublin, Leinster eliminated from Europe after just four pool rounds. Ugo Mola also struggled, Toulouse finishing a desultory 12th in the Top 14 in his second season.
Now both bosses are in their fourth seasons, their teams are playing exemplary attacking rugby and they are due to clash at the RDS on January 12 in the tie of Champions Cup round five.
Defending champions against pretenders to the throne. It’s a fixture that will highlight why offering job security to rugby bosses building for the long term can pay off handsomely in a climate where it’s becoming more frequent to rip it up and start again.
THE RATE OF 2018 CHANGE
PREMIERSHIP – Three changes (25%)
Paul Gustard for John Kingston (Harlequins)
Geordan Murphy for Matt O’Connor (Leicester)
Chris Boyd for Jim Mallinder (Northampton)
TOP14 – Four changes (28.5%)
Joe Worsley as interim for Rory Teague (Bordeaux)
Jono Gibbes for Patrice Colazzo (La Rochelle)
Heyneke Meyer for Greg Cooper (Stade Francais)
Patrice Colazzo for Fabien Galthie (Toulon)
PRO D2 – Five changes (31.2%)
Yannick Bru for Pierre Berbizier (Bayonne)
Jack Isaac for Gonzalo Quesada (Biarritz)
Jeremy Davidson for Nicolas Godignon (Brive)
Julien Sarraute for Olivier Baragnon (Colomiers)
Jamie Cudmore (new general manager position at Provence)
CHAMPIONSHIP – Three changes (25%)
Declan Kidney for Nick Kennedy (London Irish)
Neil Fowkes for Ian Costello (Nottingham)
Chris Stirling for James Lowes (Yorkshire)
WALES – Three changes (75%)
Allen Clarke for Steve Tandy (Ospreys)
John Mulvihill for Danny Wilson (Cardiff)
No one yet for Bernard Jackman (Dragons)
(A fourth switch is arranged for May 2018 as Wayne Pivac will leave Scarlets for Wales to be replaced by Brad Mooar)
IRELAND Two changes (50%)
Dan McFarland for Les Kiss/Jono Gibbes (Ulster)
Andy Friend for Kieran Keane (Connacht)
(It rises to three changes if you include Johann van Grann’s arrival at Munster in November 2017 for Rassie Erasmus)
SCOTLAND No changes
ITALY No changes
Comments on RugbyPass
The Hurricanes are good, especially with a decent coach now. However, let’s be real, the Crusaders and Chiefs are clearly a good degree weaker without the players they’ve lost overseas now. The Canes lost one player. It’s also why the aussie teams ‘seem’ to be stronger.
9 Go to commentsOr you could develop your own players instead of constantly taking from the SH competition and weakening it in the process? With all the player and financial resources these unions have compared to SH countries you’d think they could manage that, or is weakening the SH comps and their national sides an added bonus? Probably.
3 Go to commentsNot so fast Aaron, we might need you in black yet lol. God knows he’d be a lot less nerve-racking than hot and (very) cold players like Perofeta. It’s really a shame Reuben Love isn’t playing 10, we’ve got enough 15 options.
4 Go to commentsAnd those from the NH still seem to be puzzled (and delighted) why NZ’s depth isn’t what it once was. Over 600 NZ players overseas, that’s insane. This sort of deal is why Super Rugby coaches have admitted they struggle now to find enough quality to fill out their squads.
6 Go to commentsArticle intéressant ! La question devrait régulièrement se poser pour les jeunes français originaires de Nouvelle-Calédonie, Wallis-et-Futuna et de Polynésie entre la Nouvelle-Zélande et la Métropole… Difficile pour la fédération française de rugby de se positionner : soit le choix est fait de dénicher les jeunes talents et de les faire venir très tôt en Métropole, au risque de les déraciner, soit on prend le risque de se les faire “piller” par les All Blacks qui, telle une araignée, essaye de récupérer tous les talents des îles du Pacifique… À la France de se défendre en développant l’aura du XV de France et des clubs français dans ses collectivités d’Outre-mer !
3 Go to commentsWrong bay. He needs to come to the REAL BAY which is Bay Of Plenty and have a crack at making the Chiefs.
3 Go to commentsIs Barrett going play full back??? They already have all the centers…
15 Go to commentsForgive my ignorance, I might not fully understand so would appreciate clarification: Didn’t the Bulls have to fly with three different carriers, paid for by the South African Rugby Union, whilst Edinburgh got a chartered flight sponsored by EPCR? Also, as far as I understand it South African teams don’t yet share in the revenue from the competition and are not allowed to host Semi-finals or Finals at home. Surely if everyone wants South Africans to “take the competition seriously” then they must make South Africans feel welcome, allow them to share in the revenue, and give them the same levels of access as the teams from the other countries. Just a reminder that South Africa has a large and passionate Rugby audience. Just by virtue of our teams being a part of these competitions means that more of us are likely to watch the knockout games, even if our teams haven’t qualified. It would be silly to alienate such a large audience by making them feel unwelcome.
18 Go to commentsFirst of all. This guy is very much behind the curve. All the bleating, whingeing, whining and moaning took place days ago already. Not adding anything to the topic other than more bleating, whingeing, whining and moaning. 🍼 Second of all, not one mention of the fact that South African teams can’t get home semi finals or finals. The tournament was undermined and devalued by the administrators. 🤡 Thirdly, football teams often have to juggle selections in mid week games, premier games, champions league games etc. and will from time to time prioritize certain titles over others. 🐒 And lastly FEK Neil, and anyone else for that matter, for insisting on telling teams how to manage themselves. If they make what is largely a business decision that suits them and doesn’t suit you - tough shite. 💩 It’s not rocket science as to why the Bulls did what they did. If this guy is too slow to figure it out (and is deliberately not mentioning one of the key reasons why) then he isn’t a journalist. He should join the rest of us pundit plebs in comments section. 🥴
18 Go to commentsSo the first door to knock on Rob is Parliament followed by HMRC. The Irish Revenue deliver a 40% tax relief rebate on the HIGHEST EARNING TEN YEARS of every pro Irish rugby players contract earnings at retirement. That goes a long way to both retaining their best talent and freeing up wages for marquee players. Who knows, if that had been in place in the UK, you might not have been able to poach Hoggy and Jonny Gray from Glasgow…!!!
3 Go to comments1. True, if that “free” ticket means access to all but the prized exhibit - EVIP only. SA cannot host semis, even if they’ve earned it (see Sharks vs ASM Clermont Auvergne at… Twickenham Stoop). 2. Why no selective outrage over Lyon doing the exact same thing a week earlier? Out of all the countries France send the most “B teams”, why nobody talking about “disrespect” and “prioritising domestic leagues” and “kicking them out”? 3. Why no mention of the Sharks fielding all of their Springboks for the second rate Challenge cup QF? No commitment? 4. Why no mention of all the SA teams qualifying for respective euro knock out comps in the two seasons they’ve been in it? How many euro teams have qualified for KO’s in their history? Can’t compete? 5. Why no mention of SA teams beating French and English giants La Rochelle and Saracens? How many euro teams have done that in their history? Add no quality? The fact is that SA teams are only in their second season in europe, with no status and a fraction of the resources. Since joining the URC, SA has seen a repatriation of a number of players, and this will only grow once SA start sharing in the profits of competing in these comps, meaning bigger squads with greater depth and quality, meaning they don’t have to prioritise comps as they have to now - they don’t have imports from Pacifica and South America and everywhere else in between like “European” teams have - also less “Saffas” in Prem and T14, that’s what we want right? 'If the South Africans are in, they need to be all in' True, and we have to ensure we give them the same status and resources as we give everyone else to do just that. A small compromise on scheduling will go a long way in avoiding these situations, but guess what, France and England wont compromise on scheduling because they ironically… prioritise their domestic comps, go figure!
18 Go to commentsthe success of the premiership can be summarized by : only 10 teams. It makes a huge difference with the overcrowded top 14 (let us not talk about Leinster and URC…)
1 Go to commentsGood for him. The ABs were fooling around again with converted fullbacks that had a penetration of a marshmallow. Laumape or as Aki has shown for Ireland, go forward is important in the centres. If it had been DMac - Aki- Aumua - Ioane- Telea- Jordan in France the final result would have been different.
4 Go to commentsDan Carter a apporté son professionnalisme, des méthodes de travail, un esprit qui manquaient à l’USAP. Son influence, même une fois blessé a été énorme. Et pour citer une anecdote, certains soirs il venait de lui-même à l’entraînement des jeunes pour dispenser ses conseils. On ne peut pas compter ce qu’il a apporté au club en heures de jeu sur le terrain. Est-ce que le club en a eu pour son argent ? Avec la publicité sur son nom et le titre, je suppose que oui.
1 Go to commentsThe SA sides are suffering from a bum rap here. There isn’t a side anywhere in the world that would do things differently in their shoes. They’ve been set up to fail in the EPCR comps by vested interests, with last minute intercontinental travel requirements that costs an arm and a leg to book in advance just on the possibility they might be required. And the total nonsense that denies any chance of home venues is entirely biased and absolutely unsporting. Either EPCR, the Top14 & the Gallagher Premiership get it sorted on a fair and equitable sporting basis for ALL participants or expect the ridicule to continue. Right now, these comps are a joke!
18 Go to commentsSA sides should do the right thing and leave the champions cup, they are lowering the standard with completely one sided games, not up to the right level. The greatest club tournament in the world is being banjaxed by the weak SA sides.
18 Go to commentsCouldnt agree more. SA sides need to show more committment and really have a go at the Champions Cup. Its quite possibly the most prestigious title in Europe and SA sides need to respect that prestige and serve up their best. EPCR needs to do more to ensure that sides from South Africa and sides travelling to and from SA have a better chance in this competition. The Bulls were put in a really difficult position of having to travel there and back in one week. One could argue that this is what the SA sides signed up for and that La Rochelle didnt complain or send out weakened sides despite having to travel to SA and back and play on successive weekends but surely the situation is also unfair on La Rochelle as well and so EPCR needs to think about successive gameweeks and the travel effect of the competition
18 Go to commentsI hadn’t watched much Canes this season but sat through a replay of that Chiefs game with no distractions. That pack is beastly. I really like the look of Iose. He loves the tough stuff. The first Quins clip may be the best I have even seen for a TH driving his opposite into oblivion. i need to take your word for the contribution of Walker, but Collier there with a straight back pushing up from under was a lovely thing to see. Have you fallen in love with Baxter also, Nick? I think Stuart Barnes may have written his column about him recently, naked. He positively frothed.
15 Go to commentsSmart guy. I wish he was running the RFU or something!
3 Go to commentsWhy Barrett, when Leinster already have at least 4 top centres.?
15 Go to comments